Samson and Samuel (5)

21 January 2018

‘Jesus often slipped away to be alone so he could pray.’

Luke 5:16 NCV

The final difference between Samson and Samuel involves prayer. The Bible only mentions two occasions when Samson prayed. The first was when he thought he was dying of thirst and needed water: ‘Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord’ (Judges 15:18 NIV). The second was in the last moments of his life when he’d lost everything and ended up in prison. ‘Then Samson prayed to the Lord, “Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God, strengthen me just once more”’ (Judges 16:28 NIV). Sometimes our prayer life can end up like this. We only pray when we’re in need or in a desperate situation. On the other hand, Samuel had a strong prayer life. The Bible tells us that people realised he ‘was a true prophet of the Lord’ (1 Samuel 3:20 NCV). This is the kind of prayer life that God wants us to have. He wants us to be able to recognise His voice and to listen when He has things to tell us. Prayer shouldn’t be one way. We shouldn’t be only talking to God when we need something, we should be listening to Him too and using prayer to develop our relationship with Him. The Bible also talks a lot about Jesus’ prayer life. Sometimes He prayed all through the night; other times He was up praying before dawn. The Bible says: ‘Jesus often slipped away to be alone so he could pray’ (Luke 5:16 NCV). It was the secret of His effectiveness in ministry. By taking the time out to pray and connect with God, He was empowered to do God’s work on Earth. And when we also take the time out to pray, we’re empowered to do what God’s calling us to do too.

What Now?

Take some time out of your day to pray. Try and shut yourself off from all distractions and focus on using that prayer time to develop your relationship with God.